1. New Jersey/New York Russian Driving Networks
The following document provides an overview of Russian Driving Networks as they exist within the northern New Jersey/New York area,
including: typical characteristics, potential victim profiles, vulnerabilities to human trafficking, and recent convictions. This document is intended
to provide a basic understanding of these networks and should not be viewed as exhaustive.
An Overview of Russian Driving Networks:
Russian Driving Networks primarily recruit and employ Eastern European and/or Russian women and supply
them to go-go clubs and strip clubs in the United States, including in New York and New Jersey. Once the women
arrive in the United States, the driving network employs and houses the women, transports them to and from the
clubs, and coordinates the activities of the women’s lives. The driving networks provide a steady stream of new
dancers to the clubs, filling a staffing need for the clubs and enabling them to “outsource” to labor recruiters.
There are many characteristics of the driving agencies which could make the women vulnerable to becoming
victims of human trafficking. The full geographic scope of these networks in the U.S. is not clear.
Selected Federal Laws that are Applicable to the Driving Networks
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 was the first comprehensive federal act to combat human
trafficking in the US. Actions taken by the driving networks may constitute “severe forms of trafficking in persons”
and may be considered labor trafficking and/or sex trafficking.
oLabor trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a
person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of subjection to
involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.”1
oSex trafficking is defined as “a commercial sex act [that] is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in
which the person induced to perform such an act has not yet attained 18 years of age.”2
Typical Operational Characteristics
 Operators- Driving networks are typically run by Russians/Eastern Europeans or naturalized citizens from
these regions, occasionally with a connection to organized crime, though the extent of this connection is
not fully known.
 Recruitment- Women are often recruited in Eastern Europe and Russia to work in the United States,
sometimes with the knowledge that they will be supplied to go-go clubs or strip clubs, and other times
without any indication of the type of work they are coming to do. Walter Zalisko, a retired Police Chief
whose expertise is in Russian Organized Crime, has interviewed nearly 300 women, three fourths of whom
say they were promised other work but were forced into the sex trade upon arriving in the US.3
 Hours- The women often work 6-7 days a week from late in the afternoon to early the next morning for
10 hours a day or more, not including transportation time. The ride from Brighton Beach, NY to New
Jersey can take up to two hours because of several stops to drop off the women at different clubs. Women
may leave their home at 3:00 PM and return at 6:00 AM on a typical day.
 Fees- The driving network usually charges the women a daily fee of approximately $55 for transportation
to and from the club. Additional daily fees the women are charged include a “house fee,” paid to the club
1
22 U.S.C. § 7102.
2
ibid
3
Walter Zalisko, "Russian Organizaed Crime: Trafficking in Women and Government's Response," PMCI Group, 1999,
http://www.policeconsultant.com/index6.htm (accessed October 07, 2010).
This publication was made possible in part through Grant Number 90ZV0087 from the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division, Office of Refugee
Resettlement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not
necessarily represent the official views of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division, Office of Refugee Resettlement, or HHS.
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2. New Jersey/New York Russian Driving Networks At-A-Glance | Polaris Project
for providing a place to perform (around $40), a fee for the DJ (around $25, sometimes only paid
Thursday-Sunday), a fee for the bouncer who guards the lap dance area (around $25), and occasionally a fee
for the “house mom” who acts as a stage director. Most of these additional fees are charged throughout
the industry; however total daily fees for women within a driving network may reach several hundred
dollars. These women often do not make enough money each day to pay off the fees.
 Transportation- Transportation from where the women live to the clubs is often lengthy. Professor
Donna Hughes, in an IOM report, notes that sometimes the victims are housed in Brighton Beach and
Brooklyn, NY and are transported to clubs in northern New Jersey.4
 Travel Time- Since it takes time to get to the clubs, the women often must leave many hours before their
shift begins. In the larger driving networks, it is likely that the women are supplied to different clubs. In
this case, the vans will make several stops to drop women off. This means that a woman might be dropped
off several hours before her shift begins or may spend extensive time in the car.
 Vehicles- In larger driving networks, women may be transported in larger, 15 passenger vans, though the
organizations have also used SUV’s and other vehicles. In some cases, the license plates for the vans will
be from states other than those where the organization is operating. Even within an operation, the license
plates might be different states from one van to another. With larger driving networks, after the women
are picked up from the clubs, the vans may meet in a central location. The women will switch vans,
presumably to be in a van with their other housemates, under watch of the drivers.
 Organized Crime Connection- Though the extent of the connection between the driving networks and
organized crime is unclear, the FBI believes these are fronts for organized crime.5
In New Jersey and New
York, investigators also believe that Russian Organized Crime is forced to pay a tax to La Costa Nostra,
which is encouraging the organization to spread its operations elsewhere.6
Characteristics of Potential Victims
 The women are primarily from Russia or Eastern European countries.
 Usually the women are in their 20’s, but some may be minors.
 Occasionally, they are housed with 6-7 other people in an off-site one bedroom apartment.
 If asked, many of the women state they are in America as university students learning English. As noted by
Walter Zalisko, this could be a “canned response” that the women are coached to give.7
 The interviews done by Walter Zalisko suggest that half of the women come on student visas and half
come on fraudulent visas obtained through organized crime.8
 The level of freedom seems to vary. Some women say they are able to go to the beach or to shop, others
claim their movement is restricted and that they do not have enough time to get adequate sleep.
 Occasionally, the women indicate they have debts in their home countries, though it is unclear who holds
these debts. Walter Zalisko suggests the debts range from $5,000-$20,000.9
4
Donna Hughes, Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation: The Case of the Russian Federation, IOM Migration Research Series No. 7 (Geneva: International
Organization for Migration, 2002).
5
Amy O'Neill Richard, International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime, (Center for the
Study of Intelligence, 1999).
6
Walter Zalisko, "Russian Organizaed Crime: Trafficking in Women and Government's Response," PMCI Group, 1999,
http://www.policeconsultant.com/index6.htm (accessed October 07, 2010).
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
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3. New Jersey/New York Russian Driving Networks At-A-Glance | Polaris Project
 While some of the women are unhappy with their situations and feel that they were misled, others say they
knew exactly what type of work they were coming to do. Sometimes, the women return for multiple
summers and will be encouraged to help to find other employees for the Driving Network.10
Vulnerabilities to Human Trafficking
 Extensive, Pre-determined Schedules- The networks seem to house the women far from where they
work and occasionally drop them off well ahead of their scheduled shift. Likewise, their shifts last until
early morning, when they are again driven a long distance back to where they live. This schedule is not only
exhausting, it also isolates the women from anyone living and working a traditional 9am to 5pm day.
 Debts/Payments- Occasionally, the women are required to pay a fee to come to the U.S., which can
induce them to stay until the debt is repaid. There is usually a daily fee paid to the Driving Network, and
sometimes other fees to the club as detailed above, pushing the women into debt bondage.
 Restricted Movement- The women’s transportation is arranged for them, and provided by individuals
who are part of the network. These individuals also monitor the women’s interactions with outsiders.
 Threats of Physical Violence/Organized Crime- At times, the women are threatened with physical
violence if they complain or try to leave. In the U.S. v. Trakhtenberg case, women were told the money
they owed was going to the mafia, and if they did not pay, the mafia would harm them or their families.
 Threats of Deportation- Since some of the women work under fraudulent visas, they may also face the
threat of deportation. The Driving Network may threaten to report the women to the immigration
authorities as means of instilling fear or intimidation.
 Minors-Though not prevalent, there is some indication that some of the networks might exploit minors.
Recent Driving Network Trafficking Convictions
 US v. Trakhtenberg: Lev Trakhtenberg and his wife operated a Driving Network and forced approximately
25 female victims to dance nude at strip clubs in New Jersey for up to 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. The
women were transported by a former boxer to the club from apartments that were far away from their
work and were required to pay $1,200 a week to Trakhtenberg and his wife. They were threatened with
violence either to themselves or to their families if they did not pay. The traffickers made the women
believe that serious harm would come to them or to their families, possibly through organized crime, if they
did not continue to dance and pay the fees required.1112
In June of 2005, Trakhtenberg was sentenced to 60
months in prison and was ordered to pay $66,380 in restitution to the victims.13
 U.S.v. Maksimenko: Aleksandr Maksimenko was sentenced to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay more
than $1.5 million in restitution in 2006 after pleading guilty to charges relating to his role in operating a
Driving Network and forcing young women from the Ukraine and Russia to dance in strip clubs in Detroit,
MI14
. Maksimenko and his business partner Michael Aronov, who also pleaded guilty, used document
10
Ibid.
11
Robert Hanley, “Plea Deal for Man Who Forced Russians to Work in Strip Clubs,” New York Times, December 2, 2004.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/nyregion/02russian.html?_r=1&ref=robert_hanley (accessed September 13, 2010).
12
Department of Justice, “Russian Entertainment Promoter Gets 5 Years for Extorting Russian Women to Dance at New Jersey Strip Clubs,”
Department of Justice, http://www.justice.gov/usao/nj/press/files/trak0603_r.htm (accessed September 13, 2010).
13
The United States Attorney's Office District of New Jersey, “I'lina, Viktoriya Guilty Plea News Release,” The United States Attorney's Office
District of New Jersey, http://www.justice.gov/usao/nj/press/files/ilin0103_r.htm (accessed September 13, 2010).
14
Department of Justice, “Livonia Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison and $1.5 Million in Restitution for Forcing Eastern European Women to
Work at Detroit Area Strip Clubs,” Department of Justice, http://www.legislationline.org/documents/action/popup/id/6765 (accessed April 6,
2011).
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4. New Jersey/New York Russian Driving Networks At-A-Glance | Polaris Project
confiscation, debt manipulation, isolation, threats of violence, and threats of deportation to compel the
women to work in a strip club15
.
Polaris Project works to empower and mobilize people from diverse backgrounds and of all ages to take meaningful action against human
trafficking. Register with www.polarisproject.org/signup to receive regular updates on human trafficking in the United States.
15
Grace Kahng. "Sex slaves, human trafficking ... in America? One young woman shares the story of how she escaped from forced labor." MSNBC,
December 3, 2007. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/22083762/ns/today-today_people/ (accessed April 6, 2011).
Polaris Project | National Human Trafficking Resource Center | 1-888-3737-888 | NHTRC@PolarisProject.org
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